Thursday, June 09, 2005

probably not the last word on RotS

This guy consistently pulls responses out of me that I didn't know I had. It is unexpected and lovely to recognize such unarticulated feelings. It happens so often to me while reading Lileks that I'm coming to expect it.

My only point of disagreement -- I didn't have any trouble buying Anakin's turn to the Dark Side, but that's because I had been steeping myself in Vader's memoirs for weeks before I actually saw the movie. The Clone Wars shorts helped, too. But I know that's cheating, and Lucas could've done a much, much better job. I think Hayden Christiansen did the best he could with the material he had to work with, so I'm not blaming him. But there was such a wealth of character development that was sacrificed for all that jaw-dropping CGI.

Maybe someone, somewhere down the line will do these stories properly (y'know, with more Wookies, and stuff.) I'd watch.

3 comments:

He is a gifted writer who can weave a complex picture of words and imagery.

I read his columns and I really like it when he constrained by space. I also like his captions on his pictures - funny and very well constructed.

Where his train leaves the tracks is in situations like this. With the Bleat, he sometimes doesn't know when to quit - it's overwhelming. It's almost as if he has to demonstrate how brilliant he is by turning one phrase after another in a explosion of clever combinations of words. It's almost too much to absorb. And god spare us from any more subtle hints about how bright and brilliant his daughter is.

It must be in the Minnesota water or post-Reformation Lutheran angst but Ed Morrissey is the same - when he keeps the prose down, he is brilliant. When he cranks up the volume he becomes another screaming voice in the wilderness.

T, one reason I like Lileks is because he writes, on the Bleat anyway, like I do. I vaguely recall you tossing some of these same criticisms my way on occasion. Hmmm?

ITA on Ed Morrisey. MEGO nearly all the time over there these days. I don't ever feel that way about the Bleat, but I think that's because there's rarely a subject that Lileks writes about (including Gnat) that I am not interested in. Although I do have to say I just did not get that Wookie site he linked to on Friday!